"—Haineko, are you there?"
Early morning sun was beginning to stream in through the cracks in the blinds, casting her darkened room into a cell like state. Her inner prison, her inner torment that she had been holding in was materializing in natural form every morning.
Disheveled from the lack of sleep, her sheets were tossed and crumpled up every which-way on her bed – she laid motionless staring up into the ceiling. Silently tears began to escape, running down along her high cheek bones and vanishing into the pillow beneath her head. More tears? Hadn't she already spilled enough of them? Every morning and every night since his death she had secluded herself in her room and just lay there – alone.
The extra haori that he had kept in her apartment due to late nights and early mornings was beginning to lose his lingering scent. That was the last piece she had of him. She only had the memories now, the small trinkets that he had given her – but nothing she could every truly hold onto. What was worse was how Haineko was responding to the fact that Gin –and Shinso – were both gone.
The devilish feline normally would have been outwardly annoying at this point in the morning, but she had been strangely quiet since the news. Rangiku guessed she needed time to grieve as well.
"—Haineko. I'm here if you wanna talk."
The words were empty. Neither of them wanted to talk about it, let alone think about it. The constant strain she must have put Haineko under since his betrayal and now since his death. Her thoughts constantly returning to him, her emotional turmoil, her broken soul – how was her zanpakuto – an extension of her very soul dealing with it all – on top of her own grief.
She swallowed hard and pushed herself up, an empty sake bottle rolled away from her bed, clinking again the wall. It was time to get up, to get to the office, to paint a happy face and to behave like normal. She couldn't show this emotion to anyone else, she couldn't wallow in her tears forever. However, she needed someone. She had attempted to speak to her taichou – but his mind was elsewhere. There was no one else to talk to who wasn't dealing with their own loss and could take the time and put forth the energy to sit and let her cry about a traitor's death.
"You know, a girl can't get her beauty rest with you constantly annoying her, old hag."
A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips at the inner voice of the spirited feline. No wonder she wasn't responding, she was up all night dealing with her mistress's thoughts and worries. The poor girl had to sleep at some point.
"—Shut up cat."